Change to UDK or stay with UT3

[Baptista69]

hi,

i started using unreal 3 for making a project from my university.I saw lately the UDK and i was interesting on it.So, should i change to to UDK or not?And if i do,is it a way to transfer my map and packages between these 2 engines(and what is the process to do that).

thanx for your time

[geodav]

if you can find some one to do the coding then go for it, if your just making a map i doubt it would be worth it

[micahpharoh]

On the contrary, I'd suggest that if you're making a map then you should transfer it. The main thing is how much of whatever you're doing is custom and how much is part of UT3. Most of the UT3 content wont transfer correctly, so if that's the case then don't transfer.

It also depends on how much time you have. If you have mostly custom meshes, materials, etc, then it should literally take a few minutes to transfer, for the most part.

[Baptista69]

what i make is a virtual museum.So far i have the museum as a building with wall/ceiling/floor textures and an ambient sound(actor) that plays as long you play the game.Further textures and meshes have been made in ps and 3dmax but they are not yet imported in unreal.

Also what i am planning is to have a virtual guider going around the museum telling you about the exhibitions there.I have the guider as a mesh,not have done the animation yet.But for that i have a tutorial based on ut3 telling you how to import animations and voices,which i believe i can follow it in UDK.

[micahpharoh]

i have a tutorial based on ut3 telling you how to import animations and voices,which i believe i can follow it in UDK.

Yeah, that should work fine for the UDK. Animation import is the same as far as I know, and so is sound.

[Baptista69]

heh,didnt know that you are the same person who had made that tutorial series.I have watched them cause i am interesting with machinima and in fact next year i will attend a course about animation in japan(scholarship) and machinima would be my main area.

anyway,lets leave that for now,how can i do the transfer?udk is a little bit different than ut3(congiquration wise).Also the generic browser is different.
(sorry for all that,unreal is tough for 3d artists who have everything ready in the applications that we useXD)

[coldcut]

Most of the UT3 content wont transfer correctly, so if that's the case then don't transfer.

Has anyone tried, yet, to use the UT3 packages in UDK? My group is also looking at porting over, and some initial attempts have seemed positive.

In the UDK content browser at the bottom, next to the Import button is the open button (looks like a folder) for opening packages. Some of the UT3 packages have couterparts in the UDK with the same name, so what we did was to rename the original from oldname.upk to oldnameUT3.upk. Then it can be opened in UDK. Obviously, if there is no package with that name, it doesn't need to be renamed, but it may be nice to do anyway as a reminder that it did not come with stock UDK.

There are some dependency issues, for instance meshes refer to textures, so if they are not in UDK, you will need to get those from UT3, as well. We are still working on this, however it does seem like it will work.

[Baptista69]

thanks for the tips,just opened my map and my package,no problem with the textures/meshes.And it is run smooth rather than with UT3.Now before i carry on my work,do i have to save my maps/packages to a specific folder like i was doing with ut3 so it will not crash,or it can be any folder that i want?

(how can i play the level in the editor mode without the weapon?)

[coldcut]

It seems now that if you copy the UT3 packages into the content folder of UDK/UTGame, you find them in the content browser the next time you open the editor, so you may not need to even open them formally.

Also, if you open a package that is not in the UDK Content folder, the package will be listed way at the bottom under "External".

We're planning on keeping the UT3 packages we use in their own folder for the sake of portability: unfortunately we all found out this week that new Beta versions entail a whole new installation. With our extenals collected in a folder, it will be easy to transfer to the new Beta.

Hopefully they don't change the Content folder in the new versions.